Overture plans to automate a portion of its ad-bidding system in the next month. Two services will be automated for advertisers: broad matching and phrase matching. Both let marketers target
keyword-related ads to a broader set of search queries across the Web. Overture will distribute the service, called advanced match type, to Yahoo! and Microsoft. Both companies had previously opted
out of carrying Overture's specialty ads. The change reflects the growing similarity between Overture and Google, its closest rival.
